


La Catrina

by SparklyAxolotl



Series: Cocorico: The Dawn Knight Saga [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-11-17 21:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18106499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklyAxolotl/pseuds/SparklyAxolotl
Summary: Marc is getting the courage to declare his love for certain redhead boy. Luckily, his friends re there for him. Could an akuma attack prevent this?Sequel to Karma Chameleon





	1. Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a Weredad rewrite, but I realized I was making Marinette too passive (I was going to go full fairy tale and make her the Sleeping Beauty), AND I kinda like weredad anyway, so I decided to go with this idea instead.

La Catrina

Marc looked for a seat at the school’s cafeteria. Today was one of those days when he had a different break than Marinette and the others, and he decided to spend time with friends of his own class. He approached a table with a couple of guys. “Hey Eric, hey Gwen”

“Wendelin” Protested the blonde boy. Marc and Eric rolled their eyes.

“Hey stranger”, greeted Eric. “How are things with your dreamy artist?”

Marc sighed while he took a seat. “I’m not sure. I have sent him all the signals, clues, I even flirted with him. And I think he believes I have a crush on Aurore.”

“Who wouldn’t?” said Gwen. The other boys rolled their eyes again. Gwen ignored them and took a big bite of his sandwich.

“Maybe you should try a more direct approach” offered Eric. “Worst comes to worst, he is straight and rejects you”

“I saw some of the drawings he made of Kim. There is no straight explanation for those.”

“… Did you take a picture?”

“… No. Anyway, maybe you’re approaching him wrong. If guy hasn’t been flirted to before, there’s a high chance he wouldn’t recognize it”

“That is the smartest thing I have ever heard coming from you… Even thought you have half a sandwich in your mouth.”

“So what do you propose for our boy Marc? We’re guys, we can think of something!”

They remained silent for a few moments. Gwen finished chewing his sandwich and swallowed, after which he raised his hand in direction to another table.

“YO AURORE!”

The blonde girl rolled her eyes at him –a reaction that Gwen seemed to get from a lot of his peers- and then mouthed something that seemed to rhyme to ‘tuck you’.

“MARC CALLS FOR AID”

Aurore stopped mid-biting, thought for a moment and then she and her companion, a black haired girl with dark skin got up and joined the boys.

“What’s up bitches? Hey Marc, what’s the stitch?”

“Marc has been flirting with a guy for the past few weeks and he isn’t responding.”

“Does _everyone_ need to know about my romantic life?”

“Lack of romantic life, buddy” teased Eric. “Also, Yes.”

“It’s like our own personal soap opera. And it’s not like any of us have a special someone either”

“Thanks for remind us of our lonely lives Gabriella”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, Aurore could have a hot boyfriend if she just asked” Gwen winked at Aurore, who looked at him in equal parts annoyed and amused.

“I already asked Adrien out and he called me a friend. Not even a good one, just a friend”

“… I was talking about me”

“In your dreams Gwen”

“I count on that”

“… gross… SO MARC, what you wanted to talk about?”

“… the guy I have a crush on, I guess?”

“The cutie redhead from the akuma class?” asked Gabriella. Marc nodded.

“Hey, I was akumatized too, remember? Marc and Jean too... Mine was better.”

“You were lovely as Stormy Weather”

“Thanks, but SO not the point. Marc, sweetie, have you told this boy how you feel?”

“No. I have flirted with him. And Gwen thinks he’s not completely straight either.”

“Gwen probably thinks Nathaniel has the hots for him too. He has a huge ego.”

“… I’m right here, you High School Musical reject.”

“Well, boys are dumb and very thick headed.”

“Can confirm” Nodded Eric.

“You probably have to hit him with a mallet with ‘I like you’ in writing”

“But what if he doesn’t hit me right back with the same mallet?”

“Well, either you keep hanging out as friends, or you keep a distance, and either way, you will know for sure and can develop a crush on someone else.”

Marc thought on that. He really should declare to Nathaniel that he liked him in _that_ way.

“Marinette knows about your crush doesn’t she?” asked Aurore. “Maybe you can ask her to go with you and Nathaniel on a double date or something? I’d be willing to do a sacrifice and go with Adrien, but your tomato boy might be more comfortable with Marinette. ”

“My family is having a _Dia de Muertos_ celebration this Friday,” Gabriella offered, “you can ask him there, and we can be there too for moral support!”

“Sounds like a plan!”

The group of friends (And Gwen) started planning the whole thing, with strategies, clothes and how much they could eat before they got indigestion. 


	2. We're all in this together

Marinette still felt she had stepped into some sort of bizarre alternative universe.

With Lila gone, her evil influence was slowly but surely being lifted of her classmates. Everyone was friends with everyone again, and now Chloe was behaving… well, like herself, but she didn’t go out of her way to antagonize everyone else. She had even complained when she learned Marc had a different lunch time than them! Marinette hoped she wasn’t developing a crush on Marc… that would be awkward… Her friendship with Adrien had also changed, she no longer called him ‘Adrikins’, nor she clinged to him (Although she did when she saw other girls try to get into his personal space). Sabrina and Alix were also hanging out, which was a bit weirder, but Alix carefree personality seemed to gel well with Sabrina’s anxiousness.

What was weirder was when she arrived today (Late as usual) she learned that Kim and Alix had somehow started a very heated argument about which one of their Akumas would win in a fight. Marinette knew Timebreaker had killed several of them, but since she erased that, Timebreaker was a bit less menacing. Dark Cupid was a bit more specialized, and being a long ranged akuma, it was hard to determine which one would win.

“Timebreaker just needs to touch Dark Cupid and he’ll be gone!”

“She would need first to catch him, duh!”

Marinette found it amusing, but very healthy that they were talking about their akuma versions in the third person.

“Lady Wifi would be able to stop him without breaking a sweat”

“What? You too Alya?” asked Kim incredulous. Now his Dark Cupid had to fight TWO akumas.

“The Bubbler could also catch him in a bubble”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be all ganging up on me like that!”

“Evillustrator could delete the bubble and Lady Wifi’s cellphone” said Nathaniel. Kim basically ran to bear hug him, making the tomato kid blush as red as his hair.

“I knew _someone_ would be on my side”

“Well, Gamer has a 95% chance of winning with his giant robot stomping on them” added Max, clearly jealous of the attention Kim was giving to Nathaniel.

“Pfft, Stoneheart would be able to break that little toy in two seconds flat!”

“And then Reflekta would convert anyone into a clone of herself, negating their own powers.”

“And Princess Fragrance would control them anyway”

“Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! Antibug had all the powers of Ladybug, and since Ladybug defeated all of them, Antibug would be able to defeat all of them too, it’s basic math.”

None of them really knew what they had done as Akumas, so all of them were second hand accounts, some with video backup, and some without, so they couldn’t really dispute what Chloe has said.

“But Vanisher could totally sneak up on Antibug” Surprisingly, it was Alix who was encouraging Sabrina, who blushed a bit. “Or Horrificator could eat her or stop her with that weird goo thing.” Mylene smiled at that. “Hey, what about you Marinette? I bet your akuma form is crazy powerful”

Everyone looked at Marinette expectantly, but she just looked like a deer in highlights.  

"Uh..."

Fortunately for her, the bell rang and Miss Bustier entered the classroom, and everyone dropped the subject and went to their seats.

“That was a close one” said Nathaniel in a low voice when Marinette took her seat at his side. Marinette looked at him. Was he referring to the Akuma competition or the reason why she couldn’t allow herself to have an Akuma form, namely, that she was Ladybug? Maybe he was talking about Kim holding him too tight.

With that and the Lilakuma incident, she couldn’t help but think that Nathaniel knew more than he was letting on. Rooster of enlightenment, indeed.

\------------

Marc approached Marinette when school was over. He made sure Nathaniel wasn’t with her.

“Marinette!” Yelled the black haired teen from the other side of the road, which caused Marinette to get distracted and almost hit a lamppost.

“Hey Marc! Didn’t see you today at school. Nathaniel missed you” Marinette winked, and Marc blushed at the mention of his crush.

“Really? What did…? No wait, I HAVE to ask you for a HUGE favor!”

“Where do we hide the body?”

“No, not this time. I want to ask Nathaniel on a date, but I’m getting cold feet and…”

“… wait… you’re not dating already?”

“… wha… No, we’re not!... did he say something?”

“No, I just guessed… You’re always hanging out with each other… hell, he invited you to the picnic my class organized”

“Because it was in your honor and I’m your friend? Anyway, my friend Gabriella told me we can go to the Dia de Muertos Festival her family is offering and I thought we can go on a double date, even if they don’t know is a date, me with Nathaniel and you with Adrien.”

“Whaaaaaat?” Marinete.exe had stopped working. “He wouldn’t, would he? I mean maybe we can have a date, but what if he doesn’t…”

“I already asked him”

“What? What did… wait, you _hate_ Adrien”

“Pffft, of course not!”

“You painted a moustache on him in one of my posters”

“Because I thought you would like him with facial hair?”

“… ok, he would look hot, but that’s not the point. You also gave him an eye patch.”

“Because he would make an awesome pirate... Look, I’m not his biggest fan, but if you like him I’m supporting you 1000%, and I told him that if he wanted our forgiveness he would go with us to a festival to have lots of funs and probably some mild indigestion.”

“Yeah, I’m not going to go overboard on the tamales again.”

“So… you in or what?”

Marinette thought for a moment. Ever since the Lilapocalypse her crush had diminished to manageable levels, and she was able to talk to Adrien like a normal person… like a Good Friend™… Maybe it was time to take the next step, and help Marc while she was at it.

“Sure, let’s go!”

“Awesome! We’ll coordinate everything with Aurore and the others, see you tomorrow!

Marinette got her spirits high, SHE WAS HAVING A DATE WITH ADRIEN! But now duty called, and she went to Master Fu house for tea time and her miraculous lesson.

\------

“Red is called ‘Daring’ and will allow me to resist high temperatures, it is ideal for the desert or if we ever fight in a volcano or a fire based akuma.”

“Very good Marinette, you are a expert on the potions already!” Wayzz congratulated Marinette floating happily around her.

Marinette smiled. She was DYING to try some of the potions, especially the pink one, which would allow her to fly, or the purple one, which would make her look like something out of ‘Saint Seiya’.

Master Fu smiled. “I know we have been doing this all in theory, and the potions shouldn’t be taken lightly, but it is in our best interest to be on guard and don’t take Hawk Moth lightly.”

He went to the phonograph, and invited Marinette to open it. She did it with some nervousness, as it was the first time she had done it on her own.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, we have never started a fight, nor we will escalate one, but times are dire and I’m afraid it will come a time when Lucky Charm will direct you here and the Akuma won’t let you. Choose wisely for an extra miraculous to have on hand for a partner you can trust.”

Marinette looked at the miraculous on the box, displayed in front of her. Having the Bee hairpin would probably be the easiest, since everyone knew Chloe was Queen Bee… but as good as Chloe was behaving later, they weren’t hanging out other than at school. Alya and Nino… the Fox and the turtle... They **did** hang out a lot, and if this had been a month ago, she would have picked the Fox Miraculous without a second thought… but now… She picked the Rooster cufflinks. His powers were a bit more overspecialized, but she knew that she could count on Nathaniel. And she also was still wondering if he did know her secret or she was being too paranoid.

“This one”

“A good choice. The Rooster of Enlightenment can be applied to many situations.” Marinette placed the cufflinks inside her purse, with Orikko materializing from them.

“Hello!”

“We might even need to make some granola bars infused with the transformation potions for Orikko”

Orikko’s eyes went huge. “I LOVE transformations! Especially when my holder flies! They always say that Roosters don’t fly hehe”

Marinette rolled her eyes, but it was too late to pick another kwami. She just hoped Cocorico would not become a pungeon master like Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I not only have ideas for the rest of the kwamis, but for the other potions too, if you're curious, I talk about them in here:  
> https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/183418551015/i-saw-a-new-ladybug-doll-named-fantasybug-along
> 
> Also, the Rooster Knight will Rise Again!


	3. Get'cha Head In the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien gets permission to go to the Festival, while Marinette gets some planning with her friends.

“Well, that was weird”

Adrien threw himself at his oversized bed, while Plagg came out of his school bag and went to his minifridge for some cheese.

“The fact that you’re a model yet use the same tacky clothes everyday?” He said, taking a big chunk of the stinky cheese he loved so much.

“No…” Adrien looked at his clothes. “Well, besides that. That Anciel guy inviting me to that festival. I thought he hated me”

“Is that the guy who told you that your full name was Adrien ‘Doormat’ Agreste?

“… yes”

“Wasn’t he also the guy who apologized for calling you an idiot because he thought you already knew?”

“… yes”

“And also called you as useless as the ‘ueue’ in ‘queue’?”

“… pretty sure he hasn’t said that”

“Oh, he probably told it to Marinette behind your back” another big bite of cheese. “Oh right, you were saying?”

“That it was weird that he invited me to the festival, since he _clearly_ thinks so lowly of me”

“What else he said? It’s just the two of you?”

“You were there”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t paying attention”

“We’re going with Nathaniel and Marinette too.”

“Maybe it’s a double date and he’s being the wingman”

“A double date? But I don’t like Nathaniel that way!”

Plagg stopped midchew. He was using all his willpower to not slap some sense into Adrien, as he was pretty sure he would only get the poor kid thanosed. Or more confused. He then realized he only had two options, either be frustrated with this kitten obliviousness, or troll him into oblivion and enjoy the ride there. He chose the second one.

“Well, Marinette did help you that time with the fencing girl. Maybe she just wants a date with the _Rainbow_ kid and was too self-conscious to tell you about it herself.”

“But I’m not gay! I mean, Nathaniel is kind of cute and has pretty eyes, but he’s not my type!... I mean, if I had a type for guys!”

“Ah well, then you should just cancel and let Marinette on her own, despite being such a _Good Friend™_ to you” Plagg was using all his willpower not to snicker. How could Adrien not realize the setup was for him and Marinette was beyond him, and he was older than time. Well, the Time Kwami was technically his older sibling, but still…

Adrien was confused, on the one hand, he didn’t liked Nathaniel _that way_ , but on the other hand, he did owe it to Marinette. He then wondered if he could switch Nathaniel for Luka, like Marinette did. No wait, maybe for another girl.

“I was sure Marinette was into Luka… maybe that’s her type? Androgynous slim guys with black nail polish?”

Plagg just looked at him. He never jumped this high even when he was Chat Noir. “GAH! Fine! I will do it! FOR MARINETTE!”

Adrien marched to his father’s office, as it was the only obstacle for his date with… _Marinette’s date_ he meant. He knew his schedule was as packed as always (Except when it mysteriously wasn’t) but this time he would go there even if that meant confronting his father. He arrived at the ridiculously big office, outside of which was Nathalie in an equally ridiculously big desk.

“Nathalie! I need to speak with Father”

Nathalie looked up from her work, unimpressed.

“Adrien, what a great coincidence. I was about to go for you, your Father wants to talk with you.”

“Oh fiddlesticks” Adrien swore in a lowe voice. It usually wasn’t a good thing that his father requested him. Nathalie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry for my rude language”

Nathalie then buzzed Mr. Agreste, and they both got inside his office.

“Father, before anything else happens, I want to ask for permission this Friday for the Festival of Dia de Muertos that the Morales family is hosting.” Gabriel raise an eyebrow, looking intensely at his son. “Marinette…”

“The designer girl from your class? You’re going with her?”

“Well, technically…”

“Hmm… Mister Morales actually called personally to request our presence on the festival. We might even make a deal and he gets to feature some of my brand in his next movie. Maybe his daughter will even dress an Agreste original for a Gala. I think Pink is her color…. Anyway, he did request for us to wear something appropriate to the celebration, so Nathalie has been investigating in some _Catrin_ suits. Miss Morales wants to do the sugar skull make-up herself”

Gabriel was happy that his son _finally_ got on a date with his little secret girlfriend that he did not want to talk about, and in such public event! Maybe it was a bit too soon to be thinking on grandchildren, but he sure as heck was going to keep sketching wedding dresses until he made the perfect one for his future daughter-in-law. He was very glad, if a bit annoyed, that both times that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had attracted his attention – or rather, Hawk Moth’s- she had been able to calm herself down and evade the butterfly. His son deserves the best of the best, and if that meant a girl who managed to convert her negative emotions into something positive, even if it was frustrating him that there was someone defying his akumatizations, then so be it.

Adrien was again at his room. Plagg was… being Plagg. Adrien was still processing what just had happened.

“That went better than how I anticipated”

“Oh?”

“Father allowed me to go to the Festival without any strings attached. Well, I _do_ have to wear a Catrin suit, and Gabriella will paint my face like a sugar skull”

“A Sugar Skull? I love those! They were better when they used grounded human bones, but sugar is okay too.”

“In hindsight, I should have remembered that Gabriella was friends with Marc and Marinette is a much better planner than me. She probably asked Gaby to tell her parents.”

\----

“I HAVE NOTHING PLANNED! THIS IS A DISASTER!” Marinette was going though her wardrobe, hoping to find the perfect outfit for her date with Adrien. The girl squad was of course with her. “IF I CHOSE THE WRONG THING THE MORALES MIGHT SEE IT AS AN INSULT TO THEIR CULTURE AND I WILL CREATE AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT AND ADRIEN WILL HATE ME FOREVER!”

“Would you relax a bit girl?” Alya teased her friend, trying to be reassuring. It wasn’t working.

“Yeah, I’m sure Adrien would love anything you wear” Added Rose, always the positive influence.

“I bet you could go wearing a potato sack and he would still love it” grinned Alix.

“To be fair, Marinette would make that potato look very cute on her.”

Rose looked at Juleka about to protest, but conceded the point. “Yeah, Marinette would look cute in anything”

“Girls, girls, focus! We have to help Marinette chose something appropriate for her date”

“Do we? Didn’t you said that Marc told you that you were going to coordinate with his friends?”

“Yeah, when I went last year with my daddy, most people went dressed in traditional garb. _I_ was the most fabulous one, of course”

The other girls looked at Chloe. They still couldn’t believe that Marinette had invited her to their Girl Squad™ meeting. She had been behaving, but it was still weird.

“It’s not mandatory, but the Morales really encourage people to share the traditions to have a good time.”

“And how was the party?” Asked tentatively Rose.

“I wish I had been less sour back then, I missed out on some fun. It was great, people dancing, a real mariachi band, and the food! It was exquisite!”

“I thought you only liked sushi…”

“I do _love_ me some sushi, thank you very much, but their salads and traditional dishes were delicious. And the desserts! I had _buñuelos_ , _tamarindos_ , _cocadas_ , and Sugar Skulls are really not my thing, but Gaby gave me one made of amaranth and honey, and it was really tasty. I got a few pounds that weekend hehe”

The girls giggled nervously. They really liked this new Chloe and hoped she would last a lot.

“Cesaire is right, you should relax, the Morales are really nice people, they would forgive you even if you somehow manage to knock down their altar. Plus, I will be there too, I can totally run interference if you do manage to do something embarrassing.”

Marinette smiled at that. She hoped this date was a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Non-bitchy Chloe is weird, but I hope to amp up her bitchness later!
> 
> And yes, Adrien is that dense, if not more, but hey, Wacky hijinks!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette gets to coordinate some stuff with the Marc Squad.

The week passed normally, with Marc introducing formally Marinette to his friends. Marinette already knew and was on friendly terms with Aurore and Gabriella… She got to meet her when the gaming tournament had passed and Max and Marinette were declared the winner… well, Gabriella was a gamer too, and had a couple of words of choice when she learned that only people from the Akuma class had been told about the gaming tournament, and her mom had personally come to the school to yell a bit (57.3 minutes) to Principal Damocles for their bad promotion of the event.

To Mister Damocles credit, he did another school wide tournament, and the people who went to the finals were, unsurprisingly, Max, Marinette, Adrien and Gabriella herself.

Max and Gabriella fought and she won against him, 2 out of three. Marinette was surprised that Max hadn’t become The Gamer 2.0: Electric Bugaboo in that instant. To Gabriella’s credit, she took her win with grace, and when she lost with Adrien, and later Marinette, she also congratulated them on their good gaming. She also brought nachos to the tournament, so win-win, her third place was satisfactory to her. Marinette decided to go with full force against Adrien and destroyed him rather quickly. Max wasn’t even able to land a hit on her and Marinette managed a perfect score in both rounds. He also lost agaisnt Adrien.

Marinette held great respect for the girl and they both had promised a rematch sometime in the future. Gabriella had also introduced her to Pokemon, so that was also a plus.

“I browsed a bit about the Dia de Muertos in Mexico, and also saw some pictures of last year’s festival, it was so colorful! And your dress was impressive!”

“Thank you! Dad sent it from Mexico, a shame I outgrew it, I really liked it”

“Maybe I could modify it to your current size?”

“Nah, Dad already sent me another dress, this one is even more elaborate, I just hope I don’t trip on it and fall on my own ass. That would be embarrassing, right Aurore?”

“That only happened ONCE, let it go already!”

“NEVER. Hey Mari, you’re smaller than me and MUCH smaller than Aurore...”

“… you calling me fat now? Nice” Aurore shamelessly took another bite of her cake. Gabriella grinned, while Marc laughed. Marinette looked uncomfortable, but by the look on the others this was just friendly banter and not actual attacks on each other.

“You made me miss a shiny Bulbasaur, be glad you’re still alive. ANYWAY, Marinette, I think you would look lovely in that dress! I mean, if you don’t mind a hand me down… Not that you couldn’t buy or make a dress, I mean I…”

“I would love to! I mean, if it’s not culturally insensitive of me to use a Mexican dress”

“I would be offended if you didn’t. These clowns will also wear typical clothes. And I will get to paint them in sugar skull make up!” Gabriella’s eyes were full of hope and a little bit of mischievousness. The boys’ apparently only condition was no glued rhinestones to their faces as they had already learned that lesson from being the “BackWeather Boys” of Aurore. Marinette did not dare to question what was that about.

“I bet we can get Adrien and Nathaniel to wear nice Mexican stuff too.” Said Aurore. “Some Mariachi stuff… Oh my… We can dress Nathaniel as Panchito Pistoles!”

Marinette’s drink decided to make a return trip through her nose. She couldn’t stop laughing for a full minute. Nathaniel as a rooster was funny in so many levels, she almost lamented that she was the only one that understood one of them.

“You ok? I was about to call the nurse” Marinette was trying to control her laughter, finally succeeding.

“Yeah, yeah. I told me a joke I hadn’t told me before.”

“You’re weird. I like you!” Gwen said, while Aurore rolled her eyes.

“I thought I was your favorite?” Aurore feigned outrage in an overdramatic fashion.

“Oh, are you jealous _mon cheri_?”

“As if”

Marinette, like the others, had to laugh at that. She was a bit reminded of how Chat Noir flirted with her, and wondered if either of them actually felt something for the other, or if they simply enjoying the play-flirt they had going on. Everyone was laughing except Eric, who was busy on his tablet.

“Watcha doing? A new game?” asked Gabriella leaning over him, while Gwen and Aurore fought over the last slice of cake. “Oh, is your super duper secret project, isn’t it?” Eric looked up from his tablet and gave a weak and shy smile to Marinette. “Hey, Mari is cool, she’s Marc certified!”

“I guess… I was just uploading the latest information I got from interviewing that ‘Nightmare Moon’ girl. It wasn’t easy to contact her.”

Marinette blinked in surprise. “You interviewed her?”

“Eric started this project since I was akumatized” added Aurore, who had won her epic fight against Gwen. “He has been interviewing people who were victims of Hawk Moth.”

“Some people have refused to talk to me, but most actually have been pretty open about their experience.”

“You’re boring Marinette dude”

“No, no, actually, I think it’s pretty cool. Why are you interviewing them?”

Eric shrugged. “I find it interesting. There is a lot of data that can be inferred from those interviews”, he turned his tablet towards Marinette, and showed her a program running statistics. “Like this one…” He tapped one of the graphics which became big. “It seems Hawk Moth prefers teenagers to any other age group, but there are victims of every group, from toddlers to senior citizens, although those seem to be anomalies, they still count”

“We teens are more emotional, go figure”

“But that IS the point, I might not help Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat Hawk Moth, but if I present this as a proper document, we might get more awareness for better mental health. After all…” he opened another graphic “Anger and frustration seem to be the prevalent feelings that got people akumatized. We obviously can’t prevent people from feeling, but we can make them better prepared.”

Marinette thought about her own experience, and how Miss Bustier managed to calm her, only to become a victim herself. She did fight a bit Hawk Moth’s influence. It might be impossible to completely reject him, but having more mental and emotional fortitude wasn’t a bad idea.

“I resisted a bit, but it was useless in the end” added Aurore, looking at the last bit of her cake. “Maybe if I had know beforehand…”

“I never thought _I_ would be akumatized. That’s another problem you could address in that document”

“Oh, yes, all victims have been from different social circles and demographics, so the next akuma could be literally anyone… and with that Lila girl from your class being akumatized a second time…”

“Third time, actually…”

“Really?” He changed some stuff on his program. “And with what happened in Heroes’ Day, the next victim could be anyone, even people who have been akumatized before.”

“Yeah, maybe we could do some yoga or relaxation exercises, not to mention emotional training too.”

“I wonder if we could get enough puppies for everyone. Hawk Moth wouldn’t be able to akumatize anyone with a puppy.”

“Unless he starts to akumatize the puppies. I mean, he akumatized a robot…”

The group started to imagine a group of adorable puppies akumatized and wreaking havoc in Paris in the most adorable way possible.

“We’d be doomed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happened, but I do like "slice of life" stuff, sorry!
> 
> Gabriella was originally going to be the journalist girl and Eric the gamer guy, but Gabriella took a life on her own and switched their positions around. I quite like their new roles.


	5. Chapter 5

The day of the festival finally arrived. Gabriella had given Marinette the dress she liked, and Marinette had fixed it to fit her style, consulting with her new friend to make sure it was appropriate, and Gabriella not only had approved, but she had said now she was kind of jealous of the amazing dress Marinette was going to wear. This almost made Marinette panic and apologize, trying to return it to her, but Gabriella just giggled.

“You’re too panicky. I was only joking, you look amazing and if my friends look better than me, so be it, you worked hard on this dress, and you deserve to look stunning and to have all the boys going all gaga over you… Aurore will be so jealous, which is always a plus.”

“I’m not jealous that Marinette obviously looks better than me! I will be a bit jealous if she gets to be the center of attention, but I’ll survive.”

Marinette smiled at Gabriella’s words. And kinda giggled at Aurore’s. Gabriella finished the sugar skull make up on her friends, and they left Aurore’s house and went to Gabriella’s.

~°~°~

Marinette was in awe to how colorful and _happy_ the atmosphere was at Gabriella’s. She had seen pictures of celebration of Dia de Muertos, and knew what kind of festival it was, but here, being in the front of the mariachi band, people dancing, the food smelling delicious… it was simply breathtaking. Gabrielle grinned at her new friend reaction.

“Are you going to have a number this year too?” asked Aurore out of nowhere.

“Yeah, Sergio is going to play the guitar, and we’re going to sing a couple of songs. Mom absolutely **_loves_** _‘Remember me’_ from Coco, so we are going to sing it to her. Speaking of which, let’s pay our respects to the altar before going full party mode.”

The trio of girls went to one of the most ornate parts of the party. It had pictures of several people that resembled Gabriella, as well as other people that Marinette did not recognize. Gabriella say a prayer, and talked to some of the pictures, updating them on the most important things that had happened since last year. She even introduced Marinette as their newest friend, and Aurore, for all her snarkiness, greeted the altar as an old friend.

“It is simply breathtaking”

“So beautiful”

Marinette and the girls turned around, to see Marc, dressed in a red shirt with little sugar skulls on it, Nathaniel, with a suit that looked like it had cempasuchil(marigold) flowers printed, but upon closer inspection they were actually firework explosions, not to mention the skull bowtie and the top hat. Adrien looked almost too plain, with a simple yet elegant black tuxedo.

“Are you talking about the party or about Marinette?” added Gabriella with a wink.

The boys turned to see Marinette. Her dress consisted on a black top with a ruffle that had Chinese dragons, no doubt hand embroidered by her that were decorated as sugar skulls, and the skirt of her dress was very poofy, and looked made of papel picado, with tons of skull scenery. Her hair was done in braids, and adorned with flowers, not to mention her sugar skull makeup. She also had a clutch purse shaped like a sugar skull, were she had secretly put Tikki, Orikko and the rooster miraculous.

“Both” Answered Marc with a smile, before Adrien could say anything. Aurore frowned, but no one else seemed to notice, especially with Adrien and Nathaniel agreeing with Marc.

“That is a very nice dress” Another guy said. “You certainly wear it better than my disaster sister”

“Hey Sergio!” greeted Aurore. Gabriella just rolled her eyes. Marinette looked at the newcomer and thought he looked like a recolor of Luka.

“Guys, I want to introduce you to my loser of a brother, Sergio Morales.”

“Enchanted!” he said, eyeing the group. “Now, if you excuse me”

Sergio took the guitar he had and placed it under the picture of an old man. “This guitar belonged to our grandpa” explained, “he gave it to me shortly before… leaving us. We only play it in special occasions”

The guitar was a common acoustic one, made with wood and black, with some flowers painted as decoration. Marinette could feel the respect and love that the two brothers shared for that guitar.

“He taught us how to play from a young age, and we are going to celebrate his legacy today.”

The group paid their final respects to the altar, Gabriella and Aurore went to help Gabriella’s mom with some stuff, Sergio went with his own group of friends, while the Fearsome Four were left to enjoy the party. They went around, to see what the party had to offer. For some reason, Adrien insisted on going to Nathaniel’s side, much to Marinette’s and Marc’s chagrin. They were having fun, but as a group of friends, and they wanted a bit more than that.

“That’s my favorite song!” said Marinette and Marc at the same time. Marc offered his hand to Marinette in an overly flowery movement.

“Shall we dance?” asked Marc, offering his hand to Marinette, who giggled and accepted it. That’s when she noticed her clutch purse, which would make dancing a little uncomfortable.

“I can watch your purse” offered Nathaniel. Marinette had a mini panic attack, but decided to trust Nathaniel. After all, if something happened, she could easily spot him to recover Tikki. And maybe give him Orikko and the cufflinks.

They went to the dance floor and started to dance _Despacito_ like they didn’t have a care in the world. Except they did.

“This is fun” Whispered Marc. “But we have to do something more with our respective crushes” Marinette agreed with a nod. “Adrien has been a bit too interested in Nathaniel. If I didn’t know better, I’d thought he’s into him. Kinda hot to picture” Marinette stopped in her tracks, but had to agree with Marc’s statement.  “Tell you why, let’s go to them, I say I’m a little tired and then Adrien will dance with… Chloe?”

 Marinette turned around to see where Marc was seeing, and to her horror, Adrien and Chloe were dancing together. They were dancing her favorite song! And they were laughing and enjoying themselves! And then the song ended, and to their surprise Adrien and Chloe approached them.

“Hey guys, mind if we switch partners?” asked Chloe with a wink to Marinette, that Adrien couldn’t see.

Adrien walked to them… and grabbed Marc. “Excuse me Adrikins, but Marc is mine” said Chloe, grabbing Marc for herself, and pointing Adrien to Marinette. “You can dance with Marinette”

Marinette couldn’t believe the day that she would thank Chloe Bourgeois, but here she was, wearing sugar skull make up.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel had gone to the DJ and asked for a slow dance (Or at least slower than _Despacito_ which was sorta funny now that Nathaniel thought about it) for Adrien and Marinette, and apparently the Tomato boy had succeeded, because now a slow dance was playing, allowing them to have a bit of romance.

Marinette felt she could forget all her problems (Although now she wondered how she could help Marc with Nath). She was lost in Adrien’s eyes, and was pretty sure if this was one of those girly shojo animes that Adrien liked SO much, this scene would be all flowery and sparkly. And that’s when _someone_ interrupted them.

“Oh hello Adrien! Nice to see you here!”

It was Lie-la.


	6. Chapter 6

 

Adrien and Marinette were surprised, to say the least, about finding Lila Rossi, of all people, at the Morales Festival of the Dia de Muertos. And she was greeting them so casually, as if they were old friends! … Well, she was greeting Adrien and completely ignoring Marinette so at least that was consistent.

“H-hi Lila” greeted back Adrien, very unsure on what was the proper way to react.

“OMG, is this Adrien Agreste?”

“So you really know him”

“He’s so dreamy!”

A trio of girls, one blonde, one a brunette and one a red hair accompanied Lila, and were obviously fangirling all over Adrien. Marinette couldn’t help but wonder what kind of lies she had told this trio. Once the girls were swarming over Adrien, Lila finally acknowledged Marinette.

“I was transferred to a new private school. Very prestigious, only the best of the best can enter there.” Marinette wondered why she was telling this. She really _really_ didn’t care. Lila side-eyed her. “Y’know, I would have never guess you would go and appropriate a culture.”

“What”

“I mean, you’re Chinese, I’m just wondering why you’re wearing a Spanish dress.”

“What”

“And your dress is more elaborate than the hostess… that’s a _bad_ move”

Before Marinette could reply with a third confused ‘what’… or sucker punch Lie-la, Chloe and Marc had danced their way to where they were.

“Look what the cat brought back”

“Chloe, please, don’t insult cats that way. They have better taste than trash”

“Hey, don’t insult trash _that_ way”

Marinette snickered, while Lie-la pretended to not hear the insults.

“Ugh, who let the rabble in? I should talk with Mr. Morales about the kind of people who sneak in. I have known him for years, he even wanted me to star in one of his movies.”

“Wow, Lila is so awesome!” The blonde fangirl said. Chloe face palmed.

 “Lila, either you leave us… ALL of us alone or I’ll do the same thing I did before” said Chloe in a monotone voice. Lila flinched, but recovered almost immediately.

 “That fake video you made? My friends already know you’re just jealous of me.” Chloe rolled her eyes, already tired of Lila’s BS. The fangirl trio glared at Chloe. She couldn’t care less.

“Sure, sure, whatever you say. Let’s go, I need some fresh air”

Chloe somehow grabbed Marc, Adrien AND Marinette, and went as far away as Lila as she could.

“Maybe she has changed?” said Adrien. The other three glared daggers at him. “Probably not.”

“She’s obviously the same lying liar who lies.”

“I kind of feel bad for those girls”

“Yeah, but there is no way we can convince them of anything if Lie-la has them wrapped around her finger.”

“I know it’s not our responsibility, but I feel like we should do _something_ ”

They couldn’t see, and really wouldn’t care if they could, but Lila was glaring at them.

And that was when Lila noticed the akuma.

She wasn’t sure if it came for her, but she sure as hell would not waste the chance to wreak some havoc, especially if it meant she got to humiliate Chloe... and maybe Marc too. She was partial to Adrien, and didn’t care much for Marinette.

She excused herself from her “friends” and walked as fast as she could without being suspicious to the Akuma, and finally raised her hand to grab it… only to be tackled at the last second, when her fingers were already touching the dark butterfly.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” yelled Lila to whoever had tackled her. Not only she had prevented yet another shot at sweet sweet revenge, but with the force she had been tackled, both had crashed the altar, and were covered in flowers, food and other stuff.

She got even madder when she recognized the blonde hair and yellow/black dress.

 “Oh, I’m sorry; did I prevent YOU GRABBING A FLYING AKUMA?”

Chloe was tired of playing nice. She gestured the general direction of the akuma to the group that was gathering around them. People looked at it, and fortunately for Lila, they panicked seeing the loose akuma, or they would be questioning why she had tried to grab it.

Gabriella and Sergio had ran to the altar, and while Gabriella helped Chloe stand up (She knew her new status as Marc’s friend) Sergio helped… his guitar.

“I’m so glad you’re ok! I don’t know what I would do without you!” Sergio said, caressing the guitar, making sure it was ok.

“AHEM!”

“Something in your throat?”

Lila was FURIOUS. Even her new girl posse had abandoned her and was now part of the chaos, trying to get away from the akuma.

Marinette, meanwhile, was busy trying to find Nathaniel in the crowd and get Tikki back. With any luck, she could become Ladybug and purify the akuma before someone went super villain.

She didn’t even notice when Adrien ran away. Marc didn’t notice either, too busy trying not to have a panic attack. If he had noticed that Adrien was gone, he wouldn’t have left Marinette alone to go and try to help Chloe.

And that’s when Marinette noticed the woman in a very elaborate flower shaped dress making her way to the altar. At first she thought she was wearing Sugar Skull make up, but upon closer inspection, she noticed the woman was an actual skeleton… a rather pretty and stylized skeleton, but a skeleton nonetheless.

“You come to my house and disrespect my traditions. Disrespect my _family_.” She addressed Chloe and Lila. Gabriella and Sergio went very pale at the sight of this woman. Marinette only then realized who the akuma was.

“… mom… ?” came a barely audible gasp from Gabriella.

“Mommy is dealing with some hooligans now, sweetie. And my name now is La Catrina”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, Lila thinks Dia de Muertos as an Spanish tradition. She's obviously wrong, but that's part of the characterization of "Her lies are bad"


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are almost at the finale!

Everything had been bad when people had spotted the little black butterfly, now with an actual Akuma on the loose, it was pure Chaos.

Gabriella’s mother was now La Catrina, and she did not look happy. She sighed.

“This is a _celebration,_ not a place for destruction and sadness to run amok!”

Lila perked up. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. La Catrina, I was trying to have fun with my friends, but this mean girl just pushed me to the altar! It’s her fault it got destroyed! I would never disrespect Dia de Muertos, it’s my favorite Spanish tradition!”

La Catrina  rolled her non-existent eyes at the girl. She took one of the flowers that formed the crown on her head, which immediately reformed, and after smelling it, she threw it at Lila with incredible speed. The flower hit Lila square on the forehead, were it became a flower crown, with Lila’s face getting sugar skull make up too, her eyes turning completely black. She smiled in a weird way, as if half asleep, with an unfocused glance, and then started to dance to the music.

“That’s more like it!” clapped La Catrina happily. “Now the party can continue!” She threw more and more flowers, making more Sugar Skull dancers. Chloe, Marc, Aurore… more and more people were becoming victims.

Marinette had been lucky avoiding the flowers so far, but she still hadn’t found Nathaniel. She hoped Chat Noir would arrive soon, as that would mean La Catrina would get distracted and she would be able to search for her friend more efficiently.

“Pawesome party you’re having!”

Marinette groaned instinctively at the bad pun, and then reacted with joy. Chat Noir had arrived!

The cat hero used his baton to deflect the flowers that La Catrina started to throw at him, which while being an effective way to avoid becoming a Sugar Skull himself, meant he was adding to the Chaos and making the flowers hit other people. To Marinette’s further chagrin, he didn’t even seem to notice it.

One of the flowers managed to hit Gabriella, who La Catrina had been actively avoiding transforming, and as she transformed, a male sugar skull took her to dance.

“NOT MY SISTER!”

To Marinette’s and everyone that hasn’t been converted, Sergio charged at the male sugar skull and hit him with his guitar so hard it broke. He took his sister and ran from them. The Sugar Skull was dizzy for a moment, but then resumed dancing, as if nothing had happened.

Marinette then witnessed something amazing: After being relatively safe, Sergio tried to pry the flower crown off Gabriella, and to his surprise, it wilted quickly and turned to dust to his touch. Gabriella’s eyes turned normal, and looked confused at her brother for about half a second.

“You dolt, why you destroyed the guitar”

“To save you, loser”

They hugged.  Marinette was really moved, even with the insults. She remembered when she was able to break Dark Cupid’s spell by kissing Chat Noir.

“Marinette!” A whisper-scream called for her attention. She turned around to see where it had come from. It was Nathaniel who had called to her from a turned table that he was using as a shield.  Unfortunately, by turning around she had become vulnerable and a flower had hit her on her back.

“No, no, no, no” Nathaniel was panicking. He ducked again on the chair. Marinette possessed was bad news for everyone. He breathed really deep and decided to open the purse.

“Finally! We should…” Tikki stopped eyes wide open to Nathaniel. Orikko pushed pass her and greeted Nathaniel as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Hi Nathaniel! Nice to see you again!” Orikko hugged Nathaniel’s cheek, while the redhead smiled. “She’s Tikki, Ladybug’s kwami. Tikki you’re panicking.”

“Uh huh! Join me, won’t you?”

“Oh geez, Ladybug must have lent her Kwami to Marinette… for some reason” Said Nathaniel, in a very unconvincing way. Tikki perked up, Orikko face palmed.

“Save it kid, I knew you would realize the truth sooner or later. What’s the situation?”

“Why you have Marinette’s purse?” asked Tikki, eyeing Nathaniel with suspicion.

“Look, I’m sorry, ok, I know her identity is supposed to be secret, but things happened and…”

“Save that for later, what now?”

“Marc invited Marinette to dance, so she gave me her purse, and then an akuma that transforms people into dancing sugar skulls attacked, Chat Noir is fighting her… and Marinette has been turned into a dancing sugar skull”

“WHAT?”

Tikki and Orikko flew a bit over the table to see with their own eyes, and sure thing, Sugar Skull Marinette was dancing with Sugar Skull Marc and Sugar Skull Chloe.

“No” Tikki whispered and floated to the ground, deflated. “This can’t be…”

“There must be something we can do”

“Well, this girl, Gabriella, was transformed into one of those, and a guy grabbed her, but her brother broke a guitar on the guy and the flower wilted to his touch.”

Tikki perked up again. “Was the guitar of any particular meaning to him?”

“It belonged to their late grandfather; it seems it was very special to both of them.”

“An act of love” said the two little kwami at the same time.

“Huh?”

“An act of selfless love can overturn the negative energy of an akuma. The boy sacrificed a precious heirloom to rescue his sister.”

“You just need to do an act of love towards Marinette to be able to wilt those flowers too.”

“Can’t you purify the akuma yourself?”

“I can, but if I try to use the cure, I would fix _everything_ , literally”

“I don’t see the problem with that”

“She means that without a human mind to focus her power, she would fix buildings that don’t exist anymore, trees and plants that have died… and… well…”

“There is a chance I would wake up the dead. Zombies. Not to mention the effect it could have on people alive. Making them younger… The effect is randomized, Chaos theory and all, so yeah, I would rather use that as a VERY last resort.”

Nathaniel thought for a moment, wondering how they knew about Tikki’s power being able to make zombies, but he decided to ask for that later.

“This would have been awesome last year… but I no longer love Marinette”

Tikki and Orikko looked at each other.

“Not romantically, but you care about her well being, and care enough about her to keep a secret. Marinette is your friend. And a true friend helps a friend in need”

“You have to help her see the light”

 “Yes... She’s like a sister to me”

“There you go, family love, deep friendships, all of those are just as powerful as romantic love”

“Okay, I guess… I guess the first step would be to get her to a safe place.”

“We should transform, the rooster miraculous is in a secret compartment inside the purse”

“No, it would be too risky to have Cocorico without Ladybug, especially if I go and only rescue Marinette. Rescuing Marinette as me at most would make people believe I still have a crush on her. Besides… I _am_ terrified of Akumas, so taking a risk to save her might as well be my act of love.”

The two Kwamis nodded.

“So… let’s get dangerous.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. Tikki created Zombies. She's also the fountain of youth. In a way, her using her powers without a holder is much more dangerous than Plagg using Cataclysm.


	8. Chapter 8

 Nathaniel had put on the Rooster Miraculous, with Tikki and Orikko hitching a ride inside his top hat. With their help, they had gathered some flowers and made a crown for him. With luck, they would trick La Catrina into believing he had been turned already, and with even greater luck, Chat Noir wouldn’t send a flower their way. Tikki had permission to turn him into a zombie if needed, which only Orikko found amusing.

He danced his way towards Marinette, awkward and stiff at first, but he began to loosen up the more he danced, especially when he had to actually avoid being hit by the magical flowers. To his credit, the other dancers seemed to not notice he wasn’t actually one of them.

He finally reached Marinette and Marc, who were dancing like they had no worries in the world, and for a split second, Nathaniel almost regretted having to take this away from her. A tug on his hair reminded him of the mission.

He extended his hand, offering it to Marinette, and to his surprise, it was Marc who took it. He almost started to dance with him, but another tug on his hair returned him to reality. “Focus” he could heard a tiny voice inside his top hat.

With great regret, he took Marc and still dancing, passed him to Chloe, who accepted him. He then went for Marinette.

 “Blonde theory” murmured Nathaniel.

He kept dancing with Marinette – thankfully, not _despacito_ – and when he was near the table that he started, he tentatively touched the flower crown in Marinette’s hair.

And he was tossed aside from Chat Noir’s baton.

“Leave my Purrincess alone, you ruffian!”

Chat Noir had managed to knock back La Catrina, and in that moment had seen what looked like one of the sugar skulls was going to do something to Marinette and acted on instinct.

“When I said I wanted to be hit on by Chat Noir, I didn’t mean it literally” complained Nathaniel on the ground behind the table. The Kwamis had come out of the top hat, and were now flying close to him.

“Are you okay? How many fingers do you see?”

“None… you have those freaky flipper thingies.”

Orikko looked at his hand slightly offended at Nathaniel’s remark. Tikki didn’t care that much.  “He’s okay! What about Marinette?”

The three looked at Marinette, and to their surprise, she looked… confused. She was looking around, and they noticed the flower crown was no longer on her head.

“Psst! Marinette!” Whisper-Yelled Tikki. She managed to catch Marinette’s attention, who quickly ran to them. Luckily for them (Again) Chat Noir had been distracted by some of the other dancers, and La Catrina herself.

“Tikki! Orikko! I’m so glad you’re okay and… ”

And that’s when Marinette noticed Nathaniel still down, massaging his ribs, where Chat Noir had hit him.

“Oh my god! What are those mystery rat bugs things floating around!?”

“… Save it, Nathaniel knows your identity. We will have a chat over this, now we have a party to save.” Marinette eyed Nathaniel suspiciously. “You got hit by one of those flowers. He just saved you with the power of friendship, so for now, let’s trust him and transform!”

“Okay, we should just go as far away as we can from here, in case someone noticed me coming in and then Ladybug coming out.”

“Not that I don’t want to, but you don’t have to give me the Miraculous if you don’t feel like it”

“Saving now, angst talk later”

The others agreed with Marinette and went around as much as they could, finding a spot to transform.

“It’s Morphin’ time!”

“Don’t make me regret not asking Plagg to Cataclysm you on the spot.”

“Sorry”

“AHEM! Saving the world now, murder later, after the angsty talk. Tikki, Spots on!”

“Orikko, Crest up!”

The Kwamis went into their miraculous jewelry, the earrings and the cufflinks, and the teens did a double magical transformation dance sequence that lasted longer than it should have, probably to pad the length of the episode. They finished with an unnecessary pose.

“What’s the plan?” Asked Cocorico. Ladybug looked at everything that was happening, she noticed the guitar of the Montes on the ground, broken and forgotten, and the siblings hiding nearby. They were embracing, and Sergio was shielding his sister with his own body. 

“Love” she said simply. Cocorico nodded. “Lucky Charm” she said quietly, with said charm manifesting on her hands. It was a spotted guitar, the same shape and size as the now broken one. “Excellent, follow me.” The pair of teen heroes approached the siblings.

“Ladybug, you’re finally here!” said the boy. It was said in a tone of relief, not of reproach. “Our mom…”

“I know. Listen, we need your help to make your mom remember who she is and what is important to her.”

“How can we help you?” asked Gabriella.

Ladybug presented them the Lucky Charm Guitar. “I know it’s not your guitar, but I was hoping you could play your mother’s favorite song?”

Sergio took the guitar looking at it in awe. “You can count us in.”

“But those flowers…”

“Cocorico and I will protect you while you sing. When she’s distracted, we’ll take her flower crown and purify the akuma.”

“Will that help?”

“Of course it will! You rescued your sister, didn’t you?”

The siblings looked at each other and grinned. “Let’s do it.!”

Chat Noir was getting overwhelmed. La Catrina was getting faster and faster, and he also had to avoid the dancers. Where was Ladybug? She usually was faster than this.

At least he was able to get Marinette to safety. He suddenly felt Ladybug’s yo-yo around his waist, and felt the familiar pull. He got happy seeing his lady, but was sort of annoyed at seeing Chicken Little, or whatever his name was. 

“This is a festival of love, of remembrance of the people that have left!” said Gabriella defiantly.

 “Yeah, we get to have fun, but we should remember and honor them, something you clearly are not doing!”

La Catrina looked at them, disappointed.

“Tsk tsk, naughty children, they should listen to their mom and dance the night away!”

La Catrina send her dancers to the heroes, and kept throwing her flowers. Ladybug took care of the flowers, while Chat and Cocorico took care of the dancers.

“Now!”

At Ladybug’s signal, Chat Noir called Cataclysm and went to the sound system. Cocorico called Cock-a-doodle-do to distract the dancers and stop the Catrina. Sergio and Gabriella were already in the stage, and started their song and dance number.

La Catrina stopped in her tracks, recognizing the song her children were playing.

_Remember me_  
Though I have to say goodbye  
Remember me  
Don't let it make you cry  
For ever if I'm far away  
I hold you in my heart  
I sing a secret song to you  
Each night we are apart  
Remember me  
Though I have to travel far  
Remember me  
Each time you hear a sad guitar  
Know that I’m with you  
The only way that I can be  
Until you’re in my arms again  
Remember me

After the song, which lasted more than five minutes but the heroes hadn’t detransformed somehow, they could see the Dancing Sugar Skulls had stopped their jolly dance, and the Catrina was actually crying.

“I’m so sorry” La Catrina took off her flower crown and gave it to Ladybug without a fight. “Please make things right”

“Will do, thank you so much” Ladybug broke the crown, feeling slightly guilty, and hoping with all her heart that the miraculous cure would fix everything.

She caught the dark butterfly and purified it without a hitch. Sergio gave her the guitar lucky charm and went to La Catrina, like Gabriella had already done, they hugged her without fear.

“Miraculous Ladybug” she yelled, tossing the guitar upwards. A swarm of magical ladybugs appeared and fixed everything that had been changed, including the dancers. Everything returned to how it was before… except their grandfather’s guitar.

“I’m sorry” She said, genuinely remorseful. “Your grandfather’s guitar…”

“It is ok” said Mrs. Morales. “As long as we remember my father, he will be alive in our hearts and memories. Thank you so much Ladybug, for saving me and my family”  

“Your children deserve all the credit”

“You should stay for the rest of the party!” offered Sergio.

“I’d love but…” her earrings beeped, “I’m about to lose my transformation… sorry”

“Yeah, mine too”

“Same”

The three teen heroes gave their goodbyes and wished the best to the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I shamelessly am ripping off Coco, fight me.  
> Now we wait for the epilogue!


	9. Chapter 9

“No”

Nathaniel was offering his Miraculous back, but Marinette was having none of it. After fighting La Catrina, they had returned as themselves to the party, and ended up having a blast with Adrien and Marc and everyone else. The atmosphere was more relaxed, more warm and welcoming.

Except for Lila, who still was trying to play victim for her minions, but it turned out Chloe had called her mom again, who was furious that Lila had gone to the party, had bought a new dress with her credit card AND had sneaked out, as she was still grounded and needed to catch up on tons of homework. Marinette had feared that she would become akumatized again, but apparently even Hawk Moth had gotten tired of this whiny girl.

Nathaniel had tried to return the cufflinks back then, but Marinette asked him to go to later to her house to talk things over more calmly. She immediately had gone to Master Fu to explain the situation, about “someone” figuring out her identity, and how they had to confirm it to him because of the akuma attack.

Master Fu had not been pleased with the news, but ultimately had asked Marinette if she trusted this person, and that he was okay with whatever she chooses, as she was going to be the next Guardian of the Miraculous, and needed to learn to take this kind of decisions. He did seem a bit relieved when Orikko and Tikki spoke on behalf of Nathaniel, and how he had rescued Marinette thanks to loving her as a sister.

 “I trust you” said Marinette, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I want you to keep the miraculous and Orikko.”

Nathaniel gave her a shy smile. “Really? Thanks! But seriously, you don’t have to give me the Miraculous, I won’t tell your secret to anyone even if you take it”

“I meant it Nathaniel, you have been of great help, both in the suit and out of it”

“But you HAVE to tell us how you figured out Marinette was Ladybug” asked Tikki, still half mad at him. Orikko giggled. Nathaniel blushed a bit.

“Well… the thing is… when I had a crush on Marinette… I used to draw her all the time.”

“As the damsel in distress”

 “Yeah… well… my style back then was more animesque, but then… I got a crush on Ladybug and started drawing her, but I changed to a more western style, so I never saw the similarities between them. But then you got me with Marc, we wrote about Mightillustrator and Reverser joining Ladybug and Chat Noir, and I wanted to surprise you both, and since you have never been akumatized, I started designing a Super Hero based on you.”

“Neat! Did you finish it?”

“Not really, the more I was drawing Marinette in the same style as Ladybug, the more similarities I started to notice. The hair, the shape of the eyes… the body… At first I thought I was a lousy artist, or that my previous crushes on both was affecting my perception of them, but then I started to remember things that made me suspicious. Like Alya finding the textbook we use, the fact you have never been akumatized, how Ladybug seemed to know things about us that she shouldn’t otherwise know, like our names or how we interacted, or what particular problem we could be having… like how I screwed up with Marc at first… And how Marinette was never around when Ladybug appeared.”

“… That is a good reasoning.”

“But somehow, the more I thought about it, the more confused I got, as if I got fog inside my brain that was masking your identity… it was a weird feeling. And then, after we became closer, Ladybug suddenly appeared asking for my help, and giving me a Miraculous. After the adrenaline rush of the first battle died over, it got me thinking… It was too much of a coincidence, and it was like the sun dispersed the fog, and it became crystal clear that you were Ladybug!”

Tikki’s eyes openen in sudden realization.

“So it _was_ you!” she looked at Orikko in an accusing manner.

“Not my fault that my power allows my holder to bypass the glamour of the miraculous”

“You can totally block that!”

“Not if the person has things already figured out”

“… Glamour?” asked Nathaniel and Marinette at the same time.

“Well, yeah. There is a LOT of magic in a Miraculous; one of those spells prevents the holders from being discovered. You could literally see someone transform in front of you and still don’t know who is behind the mask.”

“Of course some people are more susceptible than others to the glamour, and like Nathaniel, can highly suspect the truth, but they will never fully get it. Unless the holder, or someone who already knows the secrets fills them in. That’s why we can’t say the name of our holder to people who don’t already know who it is.”

“Wait… so you mean that I would be always on the brink to realizing Marinette was Ladybug?”

“Yeah, you probably would have gone mad eventually… it does suck, but that’s for your safety too.”

“Wait… so if you can bypass the glamour now…” said Marinette suddenly. “Do you know who are Chat Noir, and Rena Rouge and Carapace?”

Nathaniel looked at her, confused. “No, not really. It didn’t occur to me to think about who they are behind the mask.”

“With enlightment you would only need a little investigation and you would realize who they are sooner or later.”

“No offense, but finding Marinette’s identity was an accident. If I hadn’t had a crush on her, and then on Ladybug, and drawing them and…”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it; you were in a unique position to guess it” said Tikki rolling her eyes.

“It was bound to happen. Hawk Moth is getting more allies; like whoever has poor Duusuu… it is natural Ladybug would get more allies too.”

“Well, you can count on me for help. Either as your trusty sidekick as Ladybug or I could help you with some of the load you have as Marinette, like your duties as class representative, or cover for you as ladybug or even helping your parents at the bakery!”

“Dude, half the school already thinks we’re dating thanks to Lie-la, you helping here would not help our case” As hard as she tried, Marinette couldn’t keep a straight face and started laughing. “I’m kidding; my parents will be thrilled if you offer to help... dad is always going on how this generation doesn’t really appreciate traditional bread. Even though he uses rice flour, but still… “

“You lost me there”

“Eh, you’ll learn. My father will make sure of it.”


End file.
